Stay The Night
by racefh853629
Summary: "We know we run the risk, on every call, of never coming home. But knowing that doesn't make it easier to deal with the loss."
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Chicago Fire, NBC, or any other known entity. This takes place outside of Chicago, which is why so few of the Chicago characters appear in the story. This is also my first attempt at a Chicago Fire story, so please be kind. There's only 4 chapters, and I've finished writing them already, so updates shouldn't take too long. This is _not_ based on true events, though there are parts to this story that may be true somewhere in the world. I hope you all enjoy this story, and please review. :)

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Chapter 1

The phrase, "a routine call," is an oxymoron.

There's nothing routine about what we do. Fighting fires isn't as simple as "putting wet stuff on the red stuff." You put water on an electrical fire, or water on certain chemicals, and you're asking for trouble.

A fire is _never_ a routine call.

Even backing up Ambo isn't routine. I mean, you can get shot at, hit, pinched, kicked… I've seen guys take tire irons and try to chase us away from a victim. You never know what is around the bend, waiting for you.

Even knowing all that, no one is ever prepared to lose someone.

We know we run the risk, on every call, of never coming home. But knowing that doesn't make it easier to deal with the loss. You hope and pray that everyone gets out, and you take every precaution to make sure they do.

Especially when you're the leader.

"It's never easy to be the leader," she acknowledges softly. "Especially when you know you're leading your men into harm's way."

I nod, sighing as I slip further down into my chair.

"What does he think?" she asks gently, nodding toward the bed.

I shrug. "It's kind of a firehouse standard, not to talk about those kinds of things," I explain. "Like saying it's been a quiet shift."

"Oh, I _hate it_ when people do that," she groans. "Because, inevitably, right after someone says that, all hell breaks loose."

I smile lightly.

"That's true in firefighting, too?" she continues.

"I think it's pretty much universal when it comes to public service jobs," I reply.

She smiled to herself. "I had someone once tell me it was a quiet night. Next thing you know, the unit's on fire."

I arch my eyebrows.

She shrugs slightly. "Someone decided to bake store made cookies in the microwave. Didn't turn out so well."

I nod, smiling slightly.

"Though, it _was_ better than any fire drill we'd ever have."

"I've had calls like that," I tell her. "Where workers do most of the rescuing for us. Makes our jobs really easy."

"We try hard."

Her casual demeanor makes her easy to talk to, and almost makes me forget the seriousness of the situation at hand.

She seems to notice this, and puts her hand on top of mine. "Tell me about him," she nudges softly.

I shrug slightly. "He's…" I struggle for a moment, trying to find the right words. "…tough. Tough, but fair. Always looking out for other people. Really cares more about others than himself sometimes. First one in, last one out kind of person. Makes sure his guys, my guys… hell, every guy who's in the firehouse, he always makes sure they are safe before he worries about himself."

"Sounds like a great guy."

I nod again. "He is."

She nods slowly, and I can tell she's wondering what I'm not saying. "You two close?" she asks.

"Depends on the day, I guess," I reply honestly.

She nods again, looking toward the door. "I'll be back, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," I say, watching the bed as she walks out.

I keep watching the monitors, knowing that they aren't telling the whole story. While his heart definitely is beating, he isn't breathing on his own. Intubated. Ventilated. Who knows what's going on in his head.

"You're an idiot," I tell him.

And I know that if he could answer, I would never have said anything. Because he would knock me on my _ass_ for that.

"Sir?" Jackie, another young nurse, says as she walks in.

I look over at her.

"Do you mind stepping out for a few minutes? I have to check him and do a few things."

"Sure," I tell her. As I walk past her, she pats me gently on the arm, and I give her a small smile and nod. I glance back at him as she draws the curtain around him.

"Hang in there, Sev," I say quietly before walking away.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! They mean a lot. :) See the firt chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you all enjoy this one, and please review!

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Chapter 2

I stand in the cafeteria, contemplating a cup of coffee when she walks up next to me. "It's not as bad as people think," she tells me. "Coffee's decent, food's pretty good. I recommend the hash browns."

"Thanks," I reply softly, reaching for a cup to get coffee.

"You should eat something. You've been here since he came up at seven."

I glance at my watch, realizing it's almost one in the morning.

"You drove in from Chicago, right?" she continues. "That's almost three hours away. You've gotta be hungry."

"A little," I acknowledge, even though right now, my stomach's in knots.

"Take some eggs and bacon, get some hash browns to go with your coffee."

"Okay."

"I'm gonna grab a sandwich. I'll sit with you."

"Don't you have to get back to work?"

She shrugs lightly. "I'm on break."

I nod, more to myself than to her.

"I'll see you in a bit."

I nod again, doing as she says. After I get through the line, I find her sitting at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. She's not hard to find, since there's no one else in the cafeteria. She smiles lightly, and I sit down across from her. I start to pick at the food before me as she takes a bite of her sandwich.

"So, tell me more about what you two do," she says.

I shrug, taking a bite of eggs. "We're firefighters," I tell her. "We fight fires, save lives. We respond to car accidents, explosions… just about everything."

"Your jacket says you're a lieutenant."

I glance briefly at the writing on the jacket. "Yeah. On Truck."

"And he's a lieutenant too, right?"

"Yeah, on Squad."

"What's the difference?"

I smile slightly. "Squad is short for Rescue Squad. Members go through special training and certifications to be able to perform certain rescues, like underwater rescues."

She nods. "So, in your firehouse, you have Truck and Squad?"

"And Ambo and Engine."

"Sounds like a packed house."

"That's why we also have a Battalion Chief in our house too."

She nods again. "Good group of people?"

I shrug. "I can't speak for the other shifts, but we've got an amazing group on our shift."

She smiles. "Tell me about them."

"We have three lieutenants in the house during our shift. Besides me and Severide, there's Hermann. He still rides with us on Truck." I scoff lightly. "It's nice having an in-house lieutenant who can take over when something happens. Unfortunately for him, the first time he ever had to fill in as acting lieutenant was when someone bombed the hospital."

"Oh, I remember hearing about that," she says. "Talk about trial by fire, huh?"

"Yeah," I say, taking a bite. "He did a great job."

"You were on scene on your day off?"

I shrug again. "I was there for the charity race. My girlfriend, at the time, was participating."

She arches her eyebrows. "Girlfriend at the time?"

I nod. "Gabby. She's a firefighter on my Truck."

"Isn't there a rule against that?"

"That's part of the reason we aren't together anymore. Things got… a little… complicated."

She makes a face and nods. "I can see how that happens."

"Yeah," I breathe.

"So, I take it you still get along then, huh?" she asks, biting her sandwich.

"Yeah, we do. We're still good friends. We were good friends before we started dating."

"That's sweet." She smiles lightly. "She didn't come up with you?"

I shrug slightly. "I just left when I got the call. Didn't really stop to ask anyone else if they were interested in joining. Besides, she owns a bar with Hermann and another one of our guys on Truck. I don't know if she would've been able to drop everything to come up here."

She nods again. "But you did."

I shrug again. "He's my roommate. He doesn't really have any family around besides us guys at the house."

"That's pretty sad," she says softly.

"Yeah," I breathe.

She glances at her watch as she finishes her sandwich. "I gotta get back upstairs. Break time's over."

I nod in response, still picking at the food before me.

"Finish your plate, Lieutenant," she cautions. "Or I _will_ get Gabby up here."

I snort lightly as I smile.

She smiles back warmly, patting my shoulder. "See you up there."

"See you."

She walks away, disappearing around the corner of the cafeteria toward the exits and elevators. Before I can take another bite, my phone rings, and I realize that I hadn't called anyone since I got there.

"Hey, Chief."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! Several of you have asked what happened, and where he is... these questions get answered here. :). See the first chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you all enjoy this one, and please review.

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Chapter 3

The room is quiet when I got back in there.

I figure that I haven't been gone that long, but it was long enough for the ventilator to be at a lower setting. At least, I assume it's a lower setting, considering how quiet the room is.

I sit back in one of the chairs in the room, watching Severide breathe by way of machine, and wondering how he got himself into this mess.

"He hit something?" she asks, and I look over at her.

"When did you get here?" I ask.

She shrugs slightly. "I'm good at working in the shadows. What'd he hit?"

I shake my head. "I'm not sure." I look over at Severide again. "The Clear Lake Police would probably have a better answer. I just know what they told me in the E.R.: that he'd been in a motorcycle accident."

"You think it was on purpose?" she asks as she sits down on the window sill.

"I've got no reason to," I tell her. "I mean, he's been in dark places before, but he'd never… he'd never tried before."

"Doesn't mean he didn't now."

I shake my head again. "No. Not him."

"Everyone gets depressed, Lieutenant," she says.

"He's been depressed," I reply. "I've seen it. After we lost Shay… his best friend… he went down a hole after she died. And yet, he's still here. He didn't try to kill himself then, so I can't believe that he would now."

She nods, and I'm not sure if that's for her, or for me. But either way, I say nothing further, and neither does she.

For the moment, anyway.

"What happened to Shay?" she asks.

I sigh. "Shay… Shay was murdered," I say softly.

"Oh… God. How?"

"We were responding to a fire… a beam broke loose, and came down, and hit her in the head. She died on scene."

"I'm so sorry." She shakes her head, and I can practically see her thinking. "But… a fire? That sounds like an accident."

I shrug. "It was arson."

She nods slowly. "So, subsequently, her death becomes a murder."

I nod.

"Did he ever date her?" she asks.

I laugh softly. "No," I reply. "She was gay. Openly gay. But, they were roommates and best friends."

"So, you two haven't always been roommates."

"No. I, uh, I was engaged for a while, and living with my fiancée."

"Oh. What happened to her?"

"She was murdered."

She looks over at me. "Wait, what? What, is there something in the water over there in Chicago? Or, do the people in your firehouse just have that effect on others?"

I chuckle softly, despite the pain I feel as I think about Hallie. "Seems like it," I say.

"Well, then again, if you believe the news, Chicago _is_ the murder capital of the country," she retorts.

"Some days," I agree.

"What about your fiancée?"

"Hallie. She found out some shady business in the clinic she was working in, and it got her killed. We found her in a fire."

"Chicago has a lot of fires, huh?"

I shrug. "I wouldn't have a job if it didn't."

"True."

I watch as she fidgets with her hair, trying to get her curly red strands out of her face. She sighs as she gives up the fight, resigning herself to short strands that wouldn't make it behind her ears or into her ponytail.

She looks over at Severide sharply, causing me to look over, just as his chest rises up and down sharply. He gasps and chokes, and alarms start going off. I stand back as a bunch of nurses come rushing in, doctors trailing behind, wondering to myself what will come next.

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After what feels like forever (but, was really only three minutes), Jackie comes up to me. "Your friend is okay," she tells me. "The alarms were due to him fighting the ventilator, which is a good thing. He's able to breathe on his own, and is now starting to do so without the ventilator's assistance. The doctors are opting to extubate him at this time, and if all goes well, he will probably be transferred to the stepdown unit later today."

I sigh in relief, thanking her quietly as she smiles and walks away. I pick up my phone, happy for the news I get to share with this call, and thankful that it isn't a call for something else.

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A/N: There's more than one Clear Lake, but Severide (and Casey) are in Indiana. :) Please review! :D


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm glad you all have enjoyed this story, and I hope you all don't find this ending to be a disappointment. I do have a follow up planned for this, but this is the end of this particular story. See the first chapter for the disclaimer. I hope you all enjoy the ending, and please review! :)

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Chapter 4

 _Three Days Later_

I make my way back up to the intensive care unit, smiling at the staff scattered around the halls. I look around, trying to find a certain nurse.

"Can I help you?" Jackie, the nurse who told me the good news about Severide, asks.

"Hi," I say. "I don't know if you remember me…"

"The firefighter… Matt Casey. Your friend was up here a couple days ago… Kelly Severide, motorcycle accident… car vs. bike. How's he doing?"

"He's great, actually. He's going home tomorrow morning."

"That's awesome." Jackie smiles brightly. "I'm glad."

"Yeah," I say. "I wanted to say thank you, for everything you guys did that night. You're part of the reason he's alive."

"Oh, no, that's all him," she says. "I'm just glad he's doing better."

"Yeah." I look down the hallway, looking at the faces at the other staff members.

"Is there something else I can help you with?" she asks.

"I'm looking for the other nurse, the one that sat with me a lot that night," I tell her. "She had red, curly hair. I think her name was…"

"Sadie?" Jackie asks.

"Yeah," I reply, looking back at Jackie and finding an odd look on her face. One that's somewhere between shocked, nervous, knowing, and creeped out. "What?"

"You're talking about Sadie Jenkins. She, uh, she used to be a nurse up here, mostly worked the night shift. She… she doesn't work here anymore."

I look at her, confused. "What do you mean? Did she quit?"

Jackie shifts slightly. "Uh… not exactly. She died… about four years ago…"

I feel the color drain from my face slightly as I realize what Jackie means. "What? How?"

"Car accident. She's actually the reason a lot of policies changed around here. She had been frozen in, meaning she got stuck working past her normal shift, and when she was on her way home, she fell asleep at the wheel. She died here on the ICU about two days after the accident."

I lean against the nurse's station, realizing I had spent a whole night talking to a ghost.

"I'm sorry," Jackie says.

"No, it's okay," I say. "I'm sorry. Did you know her?"

Jackie shakes her head. "I was working on another unit at the time. Never met her, just know the story."

I nod slowly.

"I don't know if this'll make you feel any better, but you're not the first person who's seen her," Jackie continues. "There's been a bunch of people, over the years, who say they've seen her. We've had quite a few family members asking about her after she comforted them the whole night."

I nod again, mostly to myself.

"Jackie!" a voice calls from down the hall.

"Excuse me," she says, rushing past me and leaving me completely stunned.

I spent the night with a ghost… Holy shit, I spent the night talking to a ghost.

Suddenly, a lot more things made sense: she always seemed to be alone. She was never in the room when anyone other than me and Severide were there (and, truthfully, he wouldn't know the difference). I only saw her when no one else was around…

Oh, my God.

Severide is _never_ going to believe this…

The End.


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